Curated OER
Diary of Anne Frank: Act 1 Scene 1 & 2
Eighth graders read act 1 scenes 1 & 2 of the play Diary of Anne Frank. In this Diary of Anne Frank lesson plan, 8th graders discuss how the setting of the play affects the mood of the story and answer short answer questions.
Syracuse City School District
Reading Comprehension Unit Plan
A unit plan uses short texts to teach literary elements such as theme and characterization. Included are passages by authors such as Walter Dean Myers and Sandra Cisneros. Activities include quick writes, filling in graphic organizers,...
Novelinks
The Hobbit: Writing Assignment
As a culminating assignment for a unit study of heroes that uses The Hobbit as the core text, class members engage in a multi-genre writing project.
Orange County Schools
Piggybook
Summarizing text is a balancing act between being brief but thorough. You need to be short and to the point, but also cover all the important details, a task that presents a challenge for many young learners. In this lesson based on the...
Novelinks
Lord of the Flies: Themes and Notetaking
William Golding's Lord of the Flies is a treasure trove of symbolism and literary themes. Help your kids note the richest passages in the book with a instructional activity and graphic organizer. The instructional activity prepares...
Curated OER
Morality "Tails" East and West: European Fables and Buddhist Jataka Tales
Have your class explore Buddhist Jataka Tales to compare and contrast them to European fables. After defining fables, Jataka tales, and the elements of each, learners identify themes and patterns for both types of narratives and the...
Massachusetts Department of Education
Nostalgia
To prepare for crafting their own memoir, class members examine poetry by Margaret Atwood, Billy Collins, Robert Hayden, and Claude McKay, stories by Richard Rodriquez and Willa Cather, and Barry Levinson's film Avalon. They examine...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
The Hobbit
From dragons to dwarves, from riddles to rings, the great adventure story of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien has captivated generations of readers of all ages. An educator's guide explores the novel's literary elements,...
Curated OER
Understanding Protagonists and Antagonists
How can you tell if a character is a villain? What about a hero? Work on literary analysis with an engaging language arts worksheet. After completing an activity about the four types of conflict, learners fill out a character map about a...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 14
Karen Russell's short story "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves" has a unique structure that adds value to the story. With the fourteenth activity in a unit about literary analysis and textual support, analyze how Russell has...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
El Bronx Remembered
Use a worksheet to cover different types of conflicts from El Bronx Remembered, a series of short stories by Nicholasa Mohr. The questions address "A Very Special Pet," "Shoes for Hector," "Mr. Mendelsohn," "A Lesson in Fortune-Telling,"...
Curated OER
Show Me the Story
Learners examine the elements of a story, read a review of Chris Rock's new sitcom, "Everybody Hates Chris" and create original sitcom episodes based on their own lives.
Curated OER
PowerPoint Short Story Report
Students make a Microsoft PowerPoint report from a short story read in class. They summarize and paraphrase a short story identifying the six story elements: characters, setting, plot, conflict, solution, tone/mood.
Curated OER
Story Map Situations
Third graders explore a variety of ways to represent text. They represent text in story maps while on the playground. Students depict the elements of a story on a story map. They create a poster for character, setting, problem, and the...
Curated OER
Writing Applications: Different Types of Writing and Their Characteristics
Twelfth graders rewrite a story in a different format to understand the effects of the author's style. In this writing style instructional activity, 12th graders read Mark Twain's "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" and...
Curated OER
Short Stories: The Puzzle Pieces of Life
Students distinguish the elements of fiction in a short story. In this fiction elements lesson, students complete nine lessons of activities to learn about the elements of fiction in short stories.
Curated OER
The Frog and the Scorpion
What a creative means to discuss main characters and adjectives. Learners read a short story about a frog and a scorpion, discuss the characters' actions, and identify adjectives. This technique could be used to review a variety of...
Curated OER
Elements of Messages
Students examine media messages. In this media awareness lesson, students analyze political cartoons and identify the literary elements they incorporate. Students also use the Media Elements Handout to identify the elements in other...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Making Dances From Stories
After reading a short story, learners will create dances that show homophones and verbs. Their dance sequences involve three verbs and transition movements in between each verb. Tip: Have the class dance out the sequence of events from...
K20 LEARN
The Monkey's Paw - Be Careful What You Wish For: Foreshadowing
W. W. Jacobs' horror story, "The Monkey's Paw," is used to introduce foreshadowing. As they advance through the story, young readers make predictions about what might happen next and how the story might end. Pairs work through the...
Indiana University
World Literature: "One Evening in the Rainy Season" Shi Zhecun
Did you know that modern Chinese literature “grew from the psychoanalytical theory of Sigmund Freud”? Designed for a world literature class, seniors are introduced to “One Evening in the Rainy Season,” Shi Zhecun’s stream of...
K20 LEARN
The Most Dangerous Game
Readers of "The Most Dangerous Game" must argue which of Richard Connell's characters is the protagonist or antagonist. The lesson begins with scholars reading selected passages from the story and making predictions about who they...
Reed Novel Studies
The Wind In The Willows: Novel Study
True friends stick together. In the case of The Wind In The Willows, the friends just happen to be a toad, mole, rat, and badger who team up to beat the weasels. The resource covers the first chapter of their raucous adventures. Scholars...
Curated OER
Elements of a Short Story
Students read a short story, The Tell-Tale Heart and create a story map identifying the elements of a short story included in the selection. Students complete an Accelerated Reader test on the selection.